Chindie

We don't have many traditions, really. At some point over the period my parents will go to my nan and grandads grave (I used to, before my nan died. I've not been back since her funeral). On Christmas day it's become a tradition in recent years that my dad cooks a bloody enormous fry up and my brother and his wife, and my sister and her partner and son, will come up and have that, followed by presents. Another recent tradition, that I dislike, is that we go to my sisters for Christmas dinner. The reason we do this is officially because my sister can't really justify doing turkey for just herself and son, while something else for her partner. Unofficially, and the real reason, is because my mom hates cooking. While my nan was alive, who lived with us, she'd do it. Boxing day we always go over to my great aunts in Warwickshire and she'll knock up a huge dinner as well. And thats about it. All very dull.

He's a word removed. Plain and simple. It's part of the reason soon enough everyone will despise him.

Exactly the thoughts that crossed my mind when I heard the news just. Hopefully any appeal doesn't reduce the punishment too far. Liverpool will relish the opportunity to play the victim once more no doubt.

Game and the like have done it for years, it's not example of the company being ****, as I said. When Game Group was turning enormous profits earlier in this console generation, you could spot offers where a new game was cheaper than preowned - I can tell you now that you could walk into store and find it this very second, as offers are currently on. It's simply a way of moving on stock. And far from making the customer feel like the company hasn't got a clue what it's doing, they often feel like they've got a bit of a deal, which they often have - it's just not one where they should feel they've won a little victory over the company like deals often can make people think, they've actually done exactly what the company wanted.

Also probably the one where both have lead to absurd outpourings of grief.

^ when that happens it's usually an offer price intended to get rid of stock - they want shot of stock lying around that is costing them money. whereas the preowned stock they're happier to hold on to for a while because theres a far far far greater profit margin. It's not an indication of a company being ****, as silly as it seems to the customer.

I did write that with HMV (amongst others...) in mind to be honest. I can only comment from outside the business, obviously, but I'm not sure that without a considerable change in the way the business worked, HMV would do markedly better - they're just not competitive. They're too expensive, asides from sales, and even then their sales prices regularly just brought things in line with competitors. Moving into preowned always struck me as a slightly desperate move to me, from a position of strength it'd seem aggressive and positive, from the weak position they were in it just seemed like an attempt to grab at easy money, especially when I've heard the whole thing is a bit unthought out from HMV's perspective - offering silly prices and the like.

Good to see you're enjoying it mate.

The version of the prologue I have didn't make him too hard to make out, bar one brief scene. The new trailer is superb. 'When Gotham is in ashes, I give you permission to die'

The loophole **** other, often smaller, retailers because they couldn't open up operations on the Channel Islands, so it meant they couldn't compete with them, so while it sucks for the consumer, it's probably a good thing for businesses, as it allows the less fortunate companies to level the playing field a little. I'm sure the cost to the government by the exploitation of it also came into account a little

Part of the reason things like DVDs and the like have been quite cheap to buy online is that companies based their operations in the Channel Islands which had a law in place stating that VAT on items under a certain value (until recently it was £18 I thinl reduced in the last couple of months to £15) could be avoided. The Chancellor is closing that in the New Year, which means prices will rise or retailers will take a hit to maintain custom. HMV did it, Play pretty much made a business out of being based in Jersey, Tesco Entertainment is based there, etc etc.

Indeed, the conventional capability is pretty obvious and has been for years. The nuclear, on the other hand, appears to be rather more guesswork and that has been a worry, now its even more so. I'm glad you agree that it's questionable if Jong Un will even be allowed to rule as he wishes, or be capable of doing it even if allowed. Which is yet another hit to the stability of this nation and thus it's predictability. Civil war could certainly happen. We know so little about this man that we don't even know exactly how old he is.

Beyond saving as a high street entity imo. Online they have the problem of not having the presence the real big online boys do, nor the money to compete with them. They will also get hit online in the new year (along with everyone else) when the Channel Islands loophole gets closed. They're ****. No-one I knew ever bought anything from HMV unless it was in one of their 3 for 2 DVD sales. They were often one of the most expensive places to buy - go into a store today with a list of items you might like (particularly boxsets) and you'll be left spluttering at the price. I've only used them recently because of one thing that sort of makes them somewhat desirable - they've latched onto the Steelbook blu-ray interest and get lots of exclusives because of it (you can see how important this has become to them when you notice the front end of their blu-ray page online is absolutely filled with Steelbooks). Sadly thats a niche market, very niche, and not enough.

Depends entirely on what you're going to do with it. If you're going to play lots of games, rarely delete the installs of games you've already put on there, install a lot of add on content and other PSN content, use it like a video jukebox, installing video and movies to it... then 320gb might be worth while. If you're not going to go mad with content and as your collection grows occasionally don't mind pruning some of the data, 160gb will do you fine. Later on you can add a bigger HD anyway if you want to. The only thing that might sway you to a 320gb is if the deal makes the 320gb a more interesting purchase.

The worry would be, surely, that the new leader(s) do not let China know/just do it anyway? Thats what I was getting at. Unknown quantities. South Korea has reacted to that, and no doubt many others will be looking anxiously to see what happens in the short term - because they've got no idea what they're dealing with. EDIT - I mean they don't even really know what the N.Korean capability is. The situation has changed. Jong Il was mad as a box of frogs, clearly, but he also seemed to understand that China held his leash and that he had a quite considerable US force on his doorstep, he attempted to level the playing field with a nuclear ambition, the extent of which is unknown and gave him somewhat of a decent hand to play to ensure he was left alone. Does his son follow in those footsteps? Is he a more rational man? A less rational man? Will he be allowed to change things by those behind and under him? Nobody has a clue. But equally, nobody wants to be caught with their pants down. We appear to be hoping he's a man who will be allowed, and want, to come to the table a little more.

Hopefully steering this away from tiresome party political crap... This is a huge event. His son is far from prepared to rule, and the country is unprepared for him to rule either (though you might argue the difference it'd make to the place, which is one of the most utterly ruined nations on earth, is neglible). It's another knock to stability, which international relations cannot abide. Anything could happen - his son is Western educated, perhaps he could be more pliable to Western advances. Or perhaps he's even more of a raving lunatic than his father ever was. Or perhaps his naivety will lead power to fall to advisors who are a complete unknown quantity. Very interesting stuff. And worrying if you're in Seoul.

Haven't seen the comments, but taking a stab in the dark just on what you've said -he's talking out of his arse.

A great loss. He could argue with intensity and daming power. I never really agreed with him politically, particularly when he decided he was a neo-con, but I found a great respect for him when he placed his thoughts on the line and actually went on to be waterboarded, an experience that was enough to change his views. I'll have a extra pint for a great man when I'm next in a bar, and maybe eye a packet of fags for a moment.

Instore too. Selling stupidly quick.

Bah, I must be particularly cheery today because all I can think is that none of them will make any difference. They'll all pander to their chums, they'll **** the rest of us, some slightly less obviously, some being quite open about bending us over, they'll all serve the party before the country, they'll all be contrary at PMQs because they're wrong because the tie's the wrong colour, it'll all be spin and lies when their errors of thought are pointed out. **** em. Some of 'em are more likable than others, sometimes, but ultimately they'll just make you angry.

Notoriously shy, Risso.

Back to my original point, is it acceptable to fill them in once you've found out? A number of people have murdered transgender people on the back of, er... mistaken sexual endeavour and then used 'Trans-panic' as a defence (effectively 'I murdered him/her in a blind insane rage when I found out what they were and panicked'). Its actually worked a couple of times, kinda, marking down murder to manslaughter. Also known as the 'Portsmouth defence' .

As far as I'm aware the DSi and XL are still in production. Only the original DS and the Lite have gone completely out of production to my knowledge. Certainly we still receive new DSis and XLs at our place. We are receiving less than we have had before, especially XLsand we also get less varieties of them (which might suggest, though I've no idea if it's the case, that they've scaled back production and are putting out less colours, which might make sense). I've no idea whats meant by 'not being sold 'as new'' - we sure sell new DSIs, and XLs. If I was approached by your missus all I can think I might have said is that the DSi XL doesn't represent great value any longer - we actually sell it at higher price than a 3DS I think now, in which case for a number of people if they just wanted a DS the 3DS might represent a better buy for some people. People buying for older relatives, particularly female, I tend to point in the direction of a DSi XL simply because the thing basically was designed for an older market, it's a larger item, more sombre in style and more easily usable for the older person. The strange thing with this is I can't really think why they'd try to push a 3DS at you. It's well stocked now and with the offers and new releases has started to be a steady seller. If anything they'd probably be more desperate to sell DSI XLs as it's become a lower seller and would be taking up vital stock space (and is probably a bigger margin item now I guess too). Did whoever she spoke to seem like a 'proper' staff member or a temp? I can only think she might have spoken to a temp a bit eager to do well and not terribly clued up.

Nice one. Enjoy. Bundle deals will still be about, they may not be quite so appealing - the big 7/8 game ones won't be about, 2/3/4 game bundles will be. Most of deals are based on the companies having a shitload of stock of those titles. They have a 'hard bundle' which is a console bundle that Sony have shipped to them, and then they've added in titles released in the last few months they got delivered a horrendous amount of, so FIFA, NFS, Batman... it's shifting stock mostly. I know the Game/Gamestation big bundle is also a reaction to HMVs big bundle. Because they're based on hard bundles if the stock still hangs about you'll probably still be able to pick up a bundle with, for example, Uncharted 3 and Faster along with something like FIFA and maybe Battlefield post Christmas.

I've just watched it. HYPE! Sound quality wasn't so great so some lines, especially in the louder parts, I struggled to make out, but I got the gist The action sequence is fantastic. It's almost underplayed - it's amazing, but the way it's shown is just 'This is the shit these guys do'. It's a good watch and while theres definitely the hint of the same thing they did with the Joker prologue in TDK, this one acts as way more of a teaser than that - the Jokers prologue intro was more like 'Hey man, the Joker!'. This is 'Shit, theres stuff nodded to here that is clearly massive but we've no idea, no idea at all what the **** is going down'. Bane's voice is odd. It's not as bad as I feared, even on a shit cam of the prologue I can make out most of what he says, but it's still odd.